[Andre2]

I am so happy with my 27-inch mac as music server   

Here is a video  showing it playing Dave Brubeck Quartet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmVAPmWnVhc&feature=plcp

Last night I download Audirvana Plus and PureMusic on a trial basis.  Listening to Mozart violin concerto #4 which I downloaded from HD Tracks.  Certainly the HD sound is a bit more natural than the CD, and cleaner.  I should have gotten a mac years ago. 

[Naun]

I really wish someone would do a "lite" version of Mach2 mods for the mini [...] Whatever happened to those guys, I thought it was a great idea.   

Anybody know anything about the Mojo Audio mods that have been advertised recently?

[JohnR]

Anybody know anything about the Mojo Audio mods that have been advertised recently?

No, but perhaps you could start another thread on that one? (This thread is about the Getting Started guide )

[applesource]

Shortcuttomoncton said "For me, that's the worst part - using the Mac mini as a music and entertainment server would mean having it hooked to the TV.  The operating system is designed to be used with a keyboard and mouse, though.  If it could be controlled without a keyboard and/or mouse, it would be great."
 
I control the macmini with my macbook via VNC "Screen Share"
There are two issues I find with it though. First the address changes its last number every now and then. That means I have to guess the new nos. Usually it is 101or 102 or 103; Two- it can take a couple of minutes for Screen Share to connect and display on the macbook. If I have to try 2 new numbers that means it can take around maybe 5-10 minutes to connect. Other than that, it's great controlling the mac mini from my recliner.

Q> Is there a way to make SS connect faster?

I read that the US is going through a drought and some hot weather at the moment. Coming from Australia we know all about that type of weather.

It has been in the back of my mind to run a cool running/ green music system  in summer when our temps reach 90-100+F regularly.
Would a macbook running on its internal battery give out a similar quality sound to a mains powered mac mini?

I have a dac running on a li-po battery and a small, efficient Temple Audio" Bantam Gold " digital amp that can also operate from a li-po battery and runs very cool. I could recharge the batteries at night on off-peak rates.

One other question: What gives the better SQ? a glass toslink or a USB to Spdif thingy? I have a good toslink and don't want to spend the money on a USB connection unless there is a guaranteed improvement to be had.

[JohnR]

I control the macmini with my macbook via VNC "Screen Share"
There are two issues I find with it though. First the address changes its last number every now and then. That means I have to guess the new nos. Usually it is 101or 102 or 103;

Hi, which VNC version are you using specifically? Have you tried the inbuilt Apple screen sharing?

To provide an address in the VNC client, you should be able to use the mini's machine name with ".local" at the end. For example, if you named your mini "fred" then you would use "fred.local" instead of guessing at the assigned IP address.

[applesource]

JR, Yes I use the inbuilt screen share but never seem to have any success with greg.local.
After a while in the network screen a vnc://192.168.1.101 or 103 etc. comes up. That is what changes from time to time.

[JohnR]

Hm, you are using "Connect to Server"?

Does the machine show up in the left sidebar of the Finder?

[applesource]

JR
Not as far as i know and No to second question. I did at one stage drag the address into the left side of the finder to speed things along and save me typing the address each time.

[JohnR]

Hm, I'm afraid I'm lost. You should see the machine in the Finder and be able to just click on a Screen Sharing button, like this:



Perhaps it would be best to start a new thread with specifics like which version of OSX you are using and screenshots.

[JLM]

Thanks for the big help John R, but looks like I may have gotten too late of a start.  iTunes 11 interface (OS 10.8.4, 2.7 GHz i5, 8 GB,1600 MHz DDR3) doesn't seem to match the instructions.  Looking for "Audio MIDI setup."

Trying to finally move from CDP to iMac, but I'm as computer dumb as a bag or rocks, any help?

Do I need to re-rip the CD's already done?

TIA

[JohnR]

Hi Jeff, Audio Midi Setup is not anything to do with iTunes, you can find it in the Applications->Utilities folder.

[JLM]

Thanks John.  Still new to Apple.  All their menus/screens look alike.  Hard to recall where I might have seen one versus another or how to follow 'the enlightened' path.

[JohnR]

I've checked the article, all of the setup screens are pretty much the same. It's only the views that are different. I'll try and do a short update for iTunes 11 when I get chance.

Do I need to re-rip the CD's already done?

No, you shouldn't have to, if you ripped them in lossless format already. If you ripped them in a lossy format (e.g. AAC the default) then you may want to redo them.

[Lincnabby]

Thanks for the great information. This has helped me optimize my MacBook Pro for use with Tidal Hifi.
I appreciate how simple your explanations were, as I am definitely not very computer literate!

[jbryngelson]

So much to read - in 2020, is it still the right time to be optimizing a MacMini for music?  I still find the wide array of MIDI settings and proper conversation of formats to be  - overwhelming.   Hope I can see through some of this.

[airmancarrasco]

Good information. Thank you for taking the time to post such a detailed help guide. I love apple products and sometimes find it difficult to set things up compared to Windows.

[dB Cooper]

Thank you for the major effort and helpful info.


A couple of things though:


The optical output in the headphone jack was discontinued starting with the Macbook Pro in 2016, disappearing with subsequent updates across the product line shortly after, so no current or particularly recent Mac supports it. Too bad. They cut it out of the Apple TV box too. No version of Mac OS after Mojave (superseded 2018) supports iTunes. iTunes has been showing its age for awhile. I recommend giving Audirvana a try- FLAC support,  support for Tidal and Qobuz, direct control of your DAC by the player so no transcoding to pass through your DAC- none of which iTunes does.


Be careful running legacy versions of Mac OS as streamers due to security risk. Run whatever the latest version your machine supports is. Support for more modern players on legacy OS's varies.


You can repurpose a vintage Mac as described in the article but frankly I wouldn't do it unless you just have the machine lying around. If starting from scratch, I'd get a Raspberry Pi for a fraction of the cost. Hook it up to a good DAC and you're off to the races.

[dB Cooper]

So much to read - in 2020, is it still the right time to be optimizing a MacMini for music?  I still find the wide array of MIDI settings and proper conversation of formats to be  - overwhelming.   Hope I can see through some of this.

Audirvana makes these settings for you on the fly. Just hit Play and fuhgeddaboutit.